d 92 WONDERLAND 1905 gradations and mixtures.White.White, clean and pure, and again weathered into dull grays and browns,browns, assumesassumes aa prominentprominent partpart inin thethe colorcolor sym-sym- phony.Green, lavender, and black are found and the blue of the sky overhead adds an emphasis to the phenomenal scene.Such mural paint- ing as this is unknown and such a combination of wall sculpture and dec- oration as God has here given us the world has never seen elsewhere. The excavation of this remarkable cañon has been accomplished by the same agencies operative in other canons, namely, erosion in its varied forms.forms.There is found here, however, a factor not usually known else- where and it is to this agency that the peculiar and marvelous effects no- ticed are due. The volcanic rock through which the cañon has been formed is rhyolite, and it has been decomposed by the thermal action of steam and hot water which are prevalent in the cañon the saniesame as in thegeyser basins and elsewhere in the park; To these agencies is also due the high,high. varied, and rich coloring withwith whichwhich thethe wallswalls areare emblazoned.emblazoned. ThroughThrough the decomposition and disintegration of the rhvolite the usual sculptural effects have been greatly accentuated, and in the process of decomposition heat has effected chemical changes in the rock that have produced the vivid and lurid cañon walls thatthat inin thethe sunshinesunshine remindremind one of an awful conflagration. The magnificent river that, in a mad frenzy of white tinged with the natural green of the water, goes tearing over its rocky bottom a succes- sion of rapids and falls, heightensheightens thethe beautybeauty andand grandeurgrandeur ofof thethe scene,scene, for water is always a prominent, rarely a passive, factor in a landscape. Then, looking from most of the projecting angles of the walls toward the head of the cañon the Lower, or Greater, fall adds a dignified and majestic presence to the picture.It is seldom, indeed, that such a mar- riage, or union, of desirable features is found in one landscape. Important adjuncts are the Upper fall and the glorious rapids just above it.These are less than a mile above the Lower fall and are really a part of the cañon proper although the word Grand can, perhaps, not justly be applied to the gorge above the Lower fall.The two falls, the Upper 112, the Lower 310, feet high, are as unlike as can be imagined. The Upper one goes pitching over the brink in a niostmost exultant sort of a way while the other drops into the chasm in a noble, regal manner, the embodiment of repose and dignity.Each fall may be reached by trail and road from the Cañon hotel. Two si(leside trips here are of particular interest.One is across the graceful bridge at the rapids and down the new road to Artist's point, before mentioned.The other is by the new road to the summit of Mount Washburn.This trip will occupy a day and will afford the tourist an en- tirely new sensation.The road is a fine one that willvill nevernever bebe forgotten. The eastern and northeastern parts of the park are in sight, Yellow- stone lake and the Three Tetons to the south, and Electric peak and Cinnabar mountain to the north, are seen. 4 There is no more attractive feature of scenery than a beautiful lake. \Vhether\Vhether itit bebe foundfound deeplydeeply emboweledemboweled amongamong loftylofty peakspeaks andand crags,crags, nestling within the confines of a sun-kissed valley, or shimmering amid the illimitable wrinkles andand horizonshorizons ofof aa vastvast prairie,praine, itit isis everever andand al-al- ways an important and modifying element of any landscape.It seems to soothe and mollify nature even as it does mankind.Nature's angulari- ties are toned down, its asperities softened.softened, and a lightsomeness and cheer- fulness imparted to whatwhat otherwiseotherwise wouldwould oftenoften l)ebe harsh,harsh, cold,cold, andand for-for- bidding. And the variety in lakes is almost as limitless as are their num- herber or are the bounds of the prairie itself.But however welcome and refreshing the sight of such a body of water wherever found, it is among the motintainsmountains that the supremest effectseffects areare toto bebe seen.seen.The very phrase "a mountain lake," has come to have a meaning and significance LookuLookingToward Towirj thethe "Narrows,""Narrows,' LaseLake Kzis ,ashiag1..ngo. distinctly its own. And what a new- ness and individuality there is to each and every such lake has recently been borne upon nie.me. Flowing from the eastern slopes of the Cascade range is a stream now well known throughout the west for the benisons it imposes upon a dry and thirsty, but very rich, land by means of irrigation.This river, the Yakima, has its sourcesinthree ofthepurest mountain lakes in the world, each of them in close proximity to the Northern Pacific Railway.Farthest to the west In the "Narrows," LakeLake Kachess.Kachess. lies Lake Keechelus,close to the Stam- pede pass and tunnel, farthest to the east is Lake Clealum, while between the two and nearly equi-distant from each is Lake Kachess, the largest of the three. This fine sheet of water is about seven miles in length by from one to one and one-half miles wide.It is connected with another lake known as Little Kachess, by a short narrow stream known simply as the Narrows.I think that I can write in all truth and soberness that of all the lakes that I have seen, and they are many, Lake Kachess is beyond question the finest of its size.It is, except as to size, in many respects another Lake Chelan, the latter lying farther north among the Cascades, in Washington. It would be hard indeed to exaggerate the wild mountain grandeur and at the same time the simplicity, of this little known body of water. While those resident in its vicinity have known something of this de- lightlightful ful mountainmountain retreat,retreat, thousandsthousands ofof travelerstravelers andand tourists have yearly passed within sight of it, almost, without the least suspicion of its exist- ence. Leaving the railway at Easton, a small station on the eastern slope of the Cascade mountains, a ride of four and one-halfone.half miles brings us to the foot of the lake.From the be- ginning one sees that one is in a region quite out of the ordinary, and as one penetrates farther within its silent spaces this fact Little KachessKachess Lake and HigtiHi Peaks of the Cascades 8,'yonj.Beyonj. NORTHERN PACIFICPACIFIC RAILWAY RAILWAY 95 is more and more revealed to the soul.It might have inspired Scott to write "In all her length far winding lay, With promontory, creek, and bay, * * * *$ * * * "And mountains, that like giants stand, To sentinel enchanted land." ItIt were,were, truly,truly, a fit subject for ans'any pen.pen.Rising high and yetvet higher above the deep, beautiful,beautiful, "dark-blue"dark-blue mirror" mirror" of of the the lake lake are, arc, "presump- "presump- tuous piled," the "rocky summits, split and rent," forming "turrets, domes, or battlements ;" here are found (lensedense forests of pines, firs, cedars, an(land aspens "with boughs that quakeatevery breath" of the softsoft z&'phyrszephvrs that come crooning down from the rifted rocks and weather-beaten crags that, snow powdered and whitened, glisten among the fleeting mists that enrap them. The whole scene is 'So wondrous wild, the whole might seem The scenery of a fairy dream." The entire region adjoining the lake is now a Government Forest Reserve. Prior to the setting aside of the reserve, however,Mr.1.\V.Gale,thenhowever, Mr. J. \V. Gale, then a a passenger passenger engineer of the Northern Pacific rail- way, with a friend, entered a homestead on the south side of the lake near the Narrows. Herehere they constructed two fine cabins and these are the only habitations A Washingio,Wihthgfo* T'evTr.v ata( LakqL4k, Kaciw,,.KacIw'. on the lake.Mr. Gale built his house large and roomy, for the accom- modation of the public, and called it Kachess Lodge.Mr. Gale's health compelled him, recently, to retire from railroading, and now he and his good wife devote themselves to making Kachess Lodge an enjoyable retreat for those who love to cultivate nature in the fastncsscs of the mountains.And, judging from my own experiences, they are successful in their efforts. The lodge is beautifully situated among the native forest trees at the edge of the lake.lake, and it commands a glorious view of the entire lake and the encircling mountains.The trees here are giants: large. tall, straight fellows thatthat stretchstretch upwardupward 150 150 or or oo oo feet. feet. AA clear,clear, cold,cold, little trout stream flows at the side of the house, and the lake and allof its in- flowing creeks afford choicet rout fishing, while themountains supply deer and wild goat hunting. Themountains at the head ofof thethe lakelake and about the Narrows andarid UpperUpper lake are Kachess Lodge, Lake Kachess. formed into split, isolated, castellatedcasteilated crags, that rise bare, high,high. an(land picturesquepicturesque andand areare a constant challenge to the mountain climber, a source of joy antiand inspirationinspiration toto others.others. It is a real treat to spend a few days or weeks at this beautiful spot where, although close to the railway and within two or three hours of a train, yet the sound of the whistles of the locomotives is barely heard as they pull their trains tipup thethe gradegrade ofof thethe CascadesCascades toto thethe StampedeStampede tunnel.tunnel.